Indie Folk Artist Mon Rovîa Talks Hope, Inspiration, and Echinacea TeaAllMusic had the chance to speak with Liberia-born, Chattanooga-based folk musician Mon Rovîa about his most recent single, "Don't Lose a Good Thing," how he holds onto his optimism, and his favorite type of tea.

The loneliness of the robotic humanoidPerhaps a few years from now, the halls of the Georgia World Congress Center will be peppered with humanoid robots the week of Modex. In 2024, however, Digit stands alone at the supply chain show. It’s a testament to Agility’s healthy head start over competitors like Figure, Tesla, 1X and Apptronik. This time last year […]
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Celestion Introduces Truvox 0615 LoudspeakerCelestion, manufacturer of professional audio loudspeakers for sound reinforcement, has introduced the Truvox 0615, a new six-inch mid-bass driver focused on superior quality at an affordable price point across a wide variety of use cases. Applications in which the Truvox 0615 excels include replacing six-inch drivers in fixed P.A. installations, OEM use in new portable or fixed cabinet construction, improvement upon factory car audio speakers, or virtually any situation where a compact, lightweight driver must perform bass-midrange or even primary woofer duties.  The Truvox 0615 is equally at home as the principal woofer in two-way cabinets or as the mid-bass/midrange element in three-way systems. It is also an ideal choice for door placement in cars, as many vehicles share its mounting specifications.

 The Truvox 0615 is the first member of a new product family drawing on Celestion’s long tradition of the company producing high-performing general-purpose speakers as well as the world’s most sought-after drivers for guitar amplification. Truvox was a brand known for its P.A. speakers throughout the mid 20th century, and in 1949, purchased the company then known as Rola Celestion. Thus, the Celestion brand added a broad range of P.A. drivers to its stable. Celestion will expand the Truvox line throughout 2024 to include eight-, ten-, 12-, and 15-inch sizes. True to Celestion’s ethos, each model will combine rigorous research and development with today’s best materials science, manufacturing processes, and quality assurance metrics. Celestion thus aims to make Truvox speakers the obvious choice when end users and installers alike are in search of outstanding value that refuses to sacrifice quality. “This latest incarnation brings the famous Truvox brand back to life in the form of a superior performing sound reinforcement transducer,” says Celestion Head of Marketing Ken Weller. “The Truvox 0615 meets or exceeds competitors’ specifications in all areas, with greater power handling and at a competitive price.” Learn more about the Truvox 0615 on Celestion’s product page here.

Terrace Martin (Kendrick Lamar, Stevie Wonder) on how he stays inspired
Legendary producer Terrace Martin sat down with us to discuss his perspective on creativity and how he stays inspired, regardless of whether or not he's in the studio.

Warner Music Group and Denis Ladegaillerie’s tussle over buying Believe is hotting up – as France’s SEC equivalent gets dragged into the drama.Believe's board is turning to France's equivalent of the SEC to decide whether Denis Ladegaillerie's actions are approved or otherwise
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Because Music boss Emmanuel de Buretel sides with Universal in TikTok dispute, laments ‘platform that feeds on artistic creation by destroying it’Music industry veteran argues that the platform can't 'do without' music
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Playing ZX Spectrum’s Manic Miner on the Arduino UnoComposite output shield with audio driver and controller inputs for Arduino Uno (Credit: Scott Porter)
Although it seems many have moved on to 32-bit MCUs these days for projects, there is still a lot of fun to be had in the 8-bit AVR world, as [Scott Porter] demonstrates with a recent Arduino Uno project featuring his game engine running a port of the Manic Miner game that was originally released in 1983 for the ZX Spectrum. For the video and audio output he created an add-on board for the Uno that creates a composite signal using two resistors, along with an audio driver circuit and control inputs either from the onboard buttons or from a NES controller. Audio can be sent either over the composite output or via the audio jack.
A demonstration of the game is provided in a number of videos on [Scott]’s YouTube account, which shows off a few levels, at 256×256 resolution. It contains all 20 original levels, with a few quality of life upgrades with animation. It also features original music, which may or may not work for you, but music can be turned on or off in the main menu. Compared to the 3.5 MHz Z80 MPU in the ZX Spectrum, the 16 MHz AVR of the Uno is a lot beefier, which raises the hope that a color version like the ZX Spectrum one is also in the future, even if it may require an add-on board with a framebuffer. As [Scott] notes, the weakness of the Uno is that the ZX Spectrum has significantly more RAM, which limits what can be done.
Thanks to [256byteram] for the tip.

Bandcamp announces 2024 Bandcamp Friday scheduleWhile Bandcamp Fridays will no longer be monthly, new owner Songtradr is continuing the indie platform's tradition of waving their revenue share on select days to give 100% of funds to the artists and labels.....
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Hack Makes Microwave Cookies Fast and Not TerribleMaking a chocolate chip cookie is easy. Making a good chocolate chip cookie is a little harder. Making a good chocolate chip cookie quickly is a pretty tall order, but if you cobble together a microwave and a conventional oven, you just might get delicious and fast to get together.
The goal of this Frankenstein-esque project is to build a vending machine that can whip up a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie on demand and make [Chaz] wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. We’re guessing at that last part; for all we know his goal is world peace through instant cookies. We’re fine with the idea either way, and his previous work on the project resulted in a semi-automatic cookie gun to splooge the dough out in suitable dollops.
The current work is turning those into something edible, for which a microwave seems a logical choice. Experience tells us otherwise, so off to the thrift store went [Chaz], returning with a used air fryer. He ripped the guts out of a small microwave, slapped the magnetron onto the side of the air fryer, and discovered that this was officially A Bad Idea via a microwave leakage tester. Round 2 went the other way — adding a conventional heating element to a large microwave. That worked much better, especially after close-up video revealed the dynamics of microwave cookery and the best way to combine the two cooking modalities. The result is a contraption that makes a pretty tasty-looking two-minute cookie. World peace, here we come!
Of course there’s plenty to say about the safety of all this, much of which [Chaz] himself cops to in the video. It’s important to remember that he’s just prototyping here; we’re sure the final machine will be a little more sophisticated than a heat gun duct-taped to the side of a microwave. Those cookies aren’t going to bake themselves, though, so you’ve got to start somewhere.

Air are playing Moon Safari in full at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate its 25th anniversaryAir’s seminal debut album Moon Safari turned 25 last year and to celebrate, the electronic duo have recently been playing the album in full at a slew of shows across the UK and Europe. Following its success, with all dates selling out, they’re going one bigger by announcing more dates, including a show at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall.
The duo will be coming to the capital in a couple of weeks for a date at the Coliseum Theatre on 24th March, but they’ll soon be back to play the prestigious Royal Albert Hall on 30th May.

READ MORE: Joe Biden suggests he wants to “ban AI voice impersonation” – a win or loss for musicians?

“We were a duo doing some electronic thing, dreaming of selling 10,000 copies and being recognised by other musicians as cool,” says AIR’s Jean-Benoît Dunckel in a press release. “Then suddenly, we met the world.”
In addition, they also have numerous dates lined up across various European festivals, including Spain’s Sonar Festival, France’s Days Off, Zitadelle Spandau in Berlin and Medastadt Open Air in Vienna – find tickets at their official website.

Their current run of dates marks the first occasion they’ve ever played the 1998 album in its entirety live. In addition, they have commemorated its landmark birthday with a reissue containing a remastered version with Dolby Spatial Atmos, along with rare or previously unreleased tracks. It also contained Mike Mill’s 1998 documentary film Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing, filmed during the band’s first ever worldwide tour.
Moon Safari spawned singles including Kelly Watch The Stars, All I Need and Sexy Boy, which not only put AIR on the map but had an influence on the late 20th century output of artists from David Bowie to Madonna and Beck. Its impact has also continued to be felt in modern music, such as through the music of Tame Impala.
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Karno form SMK distribution arm Karno's existing distribution will now be handled by a new SMK brand, allowing them to continue developing their own technologies and products.

Function Loops Offers FREE Billboard Vocals Sample Collection
Function Loops released the Billboard Vocals ($17.99 value) vocal sample pack as a free download (requires a newsletter signup). Billboard Vocals is a goodie bag of various audio content featuring vocals, instruments, and drums for modern pop production. Despite its name, this previously paid and now free library isn’t focused exclusively on vocals. Yes, it [...]
View post: Function Loops Offers FREE Billboard Vocals Sample Collection

Take Action Music Summit & Concert Marketing Panel Tuesday in AustinThe free Take Action Music Summit & Showcases are happening tonight and all day Tuesday at the Mohawk in Austin during SXSW, and you don't need an official festival pass to attend the daytime Summit on Tuesday, March 12th.....
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Joe Biden suggests he wants to “ban AI voice impersonation” – a win or loss for musicians?Joe Biden has hinted at the possibility of making AI voice impersonation illegal, which could lead to both positive and negative consequences for music artists as a byproduct.
Per The Verge, the US President briefly brought up the topic during the State of the Union address last week (March 7) but didn’t expand much further on any potential proposals.

READ MORE: Smart Songs: how AI is changing the way we listen

The idea is likely to have a mostly political purpose given that there was recently a spate of robocalls using an AI voice clone of the President attempting to dissuade people in New Hampshire from voting. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) subsequently issued a ban on such calls.
However, a total ban on AI voice impersonation would hold important ramifications for the arts and entertainment world. On one hand, artists could rest easy knowing the likeness of their voice isn’t being used for nefarious purposes, or as a way to earn money without fair compensation, but on the other, it could stifle creativity, and penalise those who use the technology fairly and give credit where it’s due.
Many musicians have been critical of the concept of AI impersonating their voices – Ariana Grande, for example, recently hit out at people attempting to recreate her voice using the technology, branding it “terrifying”.

In contrast, other artists have been more positive about the possibilities AI could bring to music, such as Damon Albarn, who said he was curious about the concept of posthumous AI releases following the success of The Beatles’ final song Now And Then, whose release was only made possible by the technology.
“It’s a question of scale: if enough people are interested, there could be hundreds of my songs released after my death, including songs that I would never have wanted to release,” he told Les Inrockuptibles. 
Grimes is another artist who has expressed particular openness towards the use of AI, saying last year that she thought it was “cool to be fused with a machine” and later launched AI software allowing users to mimic her voice in songs. Despite that, she recently performed a DJ set at an event calling for looser regulations of artificial intelligence, before telling the crowd that she is against “the sentiment of this party”.
Despite this, AI recreations of vocals have been continually doing the rounds on social media in recent years. One notable example was a song created by an artist named Ghostwriter977 called Heart On My Sleeve, featuring vocals which sounded like they were recorded by The Weeknd and Drake.
The post Joe Biden suggests he wants to “ban AI voice impersonation” – a win or loss for musicians? appeared first on MusicTech.

Instagram beats TikTok user growth for the first time in 4 yearsAccording to data from Sensor Tower, Instagram surpassed TikTok in new app downloads last year for the first time since 2020, making it the most downloaded app globally.....
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